Automatic means responsive to quantity of material in discharging receiver for controlling delivery from source



J. MICHEL 2,408,221 AUTOMATIC MEANS RESPONSIVE TO QUANTITY OF MATERIAL IN DISCHARGING Sept; 24; l 946.

RECEIVER FOR CONTROLLING DELIVERY FROM SOURCES Filed April 22, 1944 IN VEN TOR. fleas A Mex/4 ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 24, 1946 s- PATENT QFEICE AUTOMATIC MEANS RESPONSIVE T .QUANQ TITY 0F MATERIAL IN DISCHARGING RE- CEIVER FOR CONTROLLING DELIVERY FROM SOURCE Jacob L. Michel, Denver, Colo., 'assignor to Bluhill Foods, Incorporated, Denver, 0010., a corporation of. Colorado 7 Application April 22, 1944, Serial No. 532,339

2 Claims. (Cl. 22 2-56) This invention relates to a devic for feeding and proportioning granular, comminuted or pow- Other objects and advantages reside in the de-' tail construction of the invention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and efliciency. These will become more apparent from the following description,

In the following detailed description of the invention reference is had to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numeral refer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout the description.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section through the improved feeding and proportioning device;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line 2-2, Fig. 1;

Fig. 3- is a detail perspective view illustrating one of the proportioning blocks employed in this invention;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross-section illustrating the action of the control switch when the receiving hopper is partially emptied; and

Fig. 5 is a similar view illustrating the action of the control switch when the receiving hopper has reached its minimum content.

Typical parts of a feeding device are indicated by numerals in the drawing as follows: Supply bins l0 and ll, receiving hopper l2, and discharge gate [3.

The supply bins llland II have hopper bottoms which terminate in discharges placed adjacent each other. A discharge boot i5 is secured to the bottom of the bins for receiving material from the discharges thereof. The boot is divided by mean of a central partition into two compartments, each compartment being in communication with one of said bins.

A feed shaft [4 extends horizontally through both compartments of the boot. The 'shaft is driven from a suitable drive motor I! through a speed reducing mechanism I8 and worm gearing l6.

' The feeders l9 extend the full width of the compartments in the boot. Each feeder is provided with radially extending vanes 30 which divide them into receiving pockets. As the shaft rotates, thes pockets successively fill with material from the bins l0 and II and each pocket full of material is carried around to the bottom of the boot where it falls into the receiving hopper I2.

Naturally, if both feeders are similar, an equal amount of material will be fed to the receiving hopper from both bins. Should it be desired to feed less of the material from bin H than is being fed from bin [0, a proportioning block 2| isinserted between the vanes 30 of onset the 1 v pockets of the feeder for bin ll, so that each rotation of the shaft I4 will feed four pockets full of material from bin [9 to each three pockets full from bin II. By proper arrangement of the blocks 21 any desired proportion may be obtained between the materials in the bins l0 and l l.

The current to the motor I1 is. conducted through circuit wires 3| which are controlled by means of a mercury tilt switch 22. 22 is mounted on a tiltable switch arm 23 which is hingedly mounted on a switch shaft 24. The switch shaft is supported in brackets 25 from the boot l5 or in any other desired manner.

The arm 23 is swung about the shaft 24 by means of a downwardly extending paddle 26.\ The paddle 26 is so positionedthat it will be in the line of final flow between the boot l5 and the hopper I2. Thus, when the hopper has filled to the point shown in Fig. 1, the material will have forced the paddl to the left to lift the arm 23 and the switch 22 to break the circuit to the motor I! so as to stop further feeding of material.

A foot rod 21 depends from the free extremity of the arm 23 and terminates at its lower extremity in a conical foot member 28. A suitable guide loop 29 surrounds the rod. 2'! to hold the latter in place and to prevent swinging thereof. The foot member is so positioned that it will be imbedded in the material when the hopper is filled, as shown in Fig. 1, and will remain in this position to support the arm 23 as the hopper empties, as shown in Fig. 4. When the hopper has been emptied to a point approximating that shown in Fig. 5, the material will flow away from the foot member 28 so that it will no longer support the arm 23. This allows the arm to tilt downwardly to close the switch 22 to start the motor I! so that the feeding device will resume operation to fill the hopper l2.

The conical shape of the foot member 28 is for the purpose of allowing it to be drawn up- The switch J to be understood that the same may be varied,

within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, What is claimed and desired secured by Letters Patent is:

1. Means for controlling the discharge of finely divided material from a receptacle comprising: a boot for receiving said material from said receptacle; a feeder in said boot for feeding material therethrough; a motor operating said feeder; a mercury tilt switch controlling the current to said motor; a tiltable arm supporting said switch; a paddle projecting from said arm into the flow of material from said boot for tilting the 4 former; and a supporting member depending from said arm into said material to support the arm after the material has left said paddle.

2. Means for controlling the discharge of finely divided material from a receptacle comprising: a boot for receiving said material from said receptacle; a feeder in said boot for feeding material therethrough; a motor operating said feeder; a

mercury tilt switch controlling the current to said 

